Australia's Biodiversity and Climate Change

Here is a great new report on the increasing risks to Australia's biodiversity due to climate change.

Some info on the report follows (from the NSW Government Climate Change website):

An assessment of the vulnerability of Australia’s biodiversity to climate change was commissioned by the Australian Government to help increase our understanding of how to help Australia’s rich biodiversity adapt to climate change.

The assessment finds that Australia’s biodiversity is at risk from even moderate climate change and already under stress, for example from habitat degradation, changed fire regimes and invasive species.

Climate change is likely to exacerbate these existing stressors and add additional stresses such as through declining water availability.

Rates of extinction of species are likely to increase as the global average temperature rises by just 1.0 or 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and likely to accelerate sharply as temperature rises beyond 2°C.

The Assessment was undertaken by an independent group of experts, led by Professor Will Steffen, for the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council.

To view the full report click here.

Also worth a quick look:

Kakadu – a climate change hotspot (fact sheet)

The Great Barrier Reef and Climate Change (fact sheet)


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